


Forgotten Memories

by Kdragon1209



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Amnesia, Amnesia Lance, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brainwashing, Enemy Lance (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Hint of klance, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Langst (Voltron), Lotor's a conniving liar, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Mind Control, Mind Games, Mind Manipulation, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27657434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kdragon1209/pseuds/Kdragon1209
Summary: Keith’s guards began to drag him away, but Keith fought against them. “Are you mad? You’re going to get everyone caught Lance! How could you do this? How could you be working for Lotor, of all people? How could you do this to us? We’re a team!” Keith never cried, but he found himself on the verge of tears. Keith didn’t want to—no—refused to believe that Lance would ever betray them. But there he was, in full Galran armor, and not a shred of sympathy in his eyes. It was almost too much to bear. Tears welled up in Keith’s eyes, threatening to spill over.Lance stalked over to Keith and knelt down in front of him. He reached out a hand and cupped Keith’s chin, running a thumb over his cheek and wiping away a single tear. “You say that as if we’ve met before.”
Comments: 19
Kudos: 74





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> Amnesia idea that I've been playing around with. This is set somewhere early in season 3 I think, but for the story to work, Shiro didn't disappear after fighting Zarkon and everyone's still in their original lions.

Prologue

“Torture me all you want, I’m not telling you anything!” Lance said defiantly. He had been captured and was now sitting in a bare metal room of a Galran ship, bound to a chair. His armor and bayard had been stripped away from him, leaving him only his black flight suit. Lance knew the consequences of his actions when he had shut the hangar doors and shot the control panel, locking the doors. He had ensured his teammate’s escape while consequently trapping himself inside the base. Lance didn’t think twice about his decision and would do it again if he had to. When the Galra had arrived, Lance didn’t put up a fight and had surrendered.

What Lance didn’t expect was to be brought directly before the Galran prince himself.

“Oh, but you see,” Lotor said with a chuckle. He stalked around Lance, inspecting him. Lance never took his eyes off the prince. “That’s what I admire about you.”

“My friends will come for me!” Lance proclaimed. He struggled against the metal cuffs that bound his wrists to the armrests.

Lotor grinned. “Friends? You seriously think that they’ll come after you?”

Lance’s confidence wavered, but he wasn’t giving in. “Even if they don’t, I’m still not telling you anything. You might as well just kill me.”

Lotor gave a dramatic sigh and cupped Lance’s chin. “See, that’s the thing. Killing you would be such a waste.” Lance jerked out of his grasp and glared at the man. “Although I suppose I could persuade you to join me, tell all about how you’re fighting for the wrong side, but something tells me that would be a waste of time.” Lance narrowed his eyes at the prince, wondering what he was up to. A malicious grin spread across Lotor’s face. “That’s why I think I’ll do this instead.”

One of Lotor’s generals, Narti, emerged from the shadows and suddenly grabbed Lance’s head from the back. Without warning, Lance screamed as he felt her enter his mind, her dark energy slithering through him like a snake. A scream erupted from his throat and he tried to fight her, but it was only a matter of seconds before she had found what she wanted. Lance only had a few moments to comprehend what was going on before all of his memories were ripped from his head. Lance’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he briefly convulsed before he fell unconscious.

Narti released her grip on Lance and his head slumped to his chest. Her and Lotor exchanged a knowing look and Narti exited the prison cell. Lotor hoped he didn’t have to wait too long for Lance to regain consciousness. Thankfully, a few doboshes later, Lotor heard Lance stirring and quickly switched his face from conniving to concerned. Lotor knelt down in front of Lance and began shaking him lightly.

“Thank the ancients that I found you! Lance, Lance, can you hear me? Are you all right?” Lotor questioned worriedly.

Lance slowly lifted his head up and gazed at the unfamiliar purple man. “Who…who are you?”

Lotor feigned a hurt look. “You don’t…you don’t remember me?”

“No…?” Lance said hoarsely.

“We’ll figure it out later, it doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that I’ve finally found you,” Lotor assured and embraced Lance. “Let’s get you out of here.” He then undid Lance’s bindings and helped him to his feet. After that he scooped Lance up into his arms and carried him out of the cell.

“Where are we going?” Lance muttered. He could feel his eyelids getting heavier and heavier and tried to fight to stay awake. Something was wrong, but his mind was too foggy to attempt to comprehend anything.

“We’re escaping. The girls already have a ship ready. We’re going home,” Lotor informed him.

“Home…I’d like that.” Lance finally let his eyelids win and drifted off into sleep.

“Yes, get your rest.” When Lance was finally asleep, Lotor allowed himself to grin in triumph. Without Lance, Voltron would be no more.

It had been four days since they lost Lance. Four days since they were forced to leave Lance behind. The worst part was that they didn’t even realize he wasn’t with them until it was too late. The castle was quieter, the silence pressing into them, making the absence of their beloved goofball all the more obvious.

Keith was training again, hoping to distract himself from his thoughts like he had done so before. The Altean sparring robot came at him relentlessly, forcing him to parry and block more than he had before. Keith grunted in exertion as he deflected all of the robot’s strikes and went for an opening in the robot’s defenses, but his movements were too slow. The robot noticed and took advantage, knocking his bayard out of his hand. Keith watched the bayard clatter to the ground and revert to its original form and only had a moment to comprehend the robot was attacking again before receiving a kick to the gut. Keith grunted and slammed into the ground, coughing and clutching his stomach.

_Another bruise for my collection,_ Keith thought bitterly. Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he rolled out of the way as the bot struck down, its staff connecting with the floor instead of his head. Keith shot to his feet and wiped the blood off of the corner of his mouth. “End training sequence!” he shouted. To his relief, the bot deactivated and went limp. Keith placed his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath, his most recent bruise stinging in protest. Groaning, Keith went over and retrieved his bayard.

“Wow, that was pretty bad,” a familiar voice exclaimed. Keith looked over to see Shiro leaning up against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

“What do you want Shiro?” Keith growled. He was definitely _not_ in the mood to talk right now. Keith knew from eavesdropping that Shiro had already spoken to everyone else, urging everyone to take a break and rest. Allura, Pidge, and Coran were working around the clock to try and find Lance. Hunk was holed up in the kitchen and stress-baking again (Keith at least prayed that Hunk made the macaroons that he liked). And Keith had holed up in the training room, figuring he wasn’t going to be much help with anything else.

“How long have you been training?” Shiro asked instead.

“Not long enough,” Keith muttered. He reactivated his bayard and got into his fighting stance. “Start training sequence.” The robot whirred to life and lunged at Keith, not wasting any time in attacking.

Good.

“Keith—Keith listen to me. Keith, come on,” Shiro called, but Keith pointedly ignored him. “Keith, I know you’re upset, but pushing yourself to—Keith!” Shiro’s words fell on deaf ears and he waited until the training bot knocked the red paladin down again. A few minutes later and it did just that, laying Keith flat out on his back.

“End training sequence!” Keith shouted, his arms crossed protectively in front of him as the bot went for his head again. The bot paused mid-swing and returned to a neutral stance. Keith threw his arms down to his sides and laid there on the ground, chest heaving and sweat dripping down him profusely. Shiro’s face appeared over him, partially blocking out the lights.

“You done yet?” Shiro questioned.

“…No…” Keith grunted in between breaths. He made a move to get up, but Shiro stopped him.

“That’s enough. I know you like to train and I think it’s great you continue to focus on that, but you’re pushing yourself too far,” Shiro said sternly. “Go hit the showers and expect a talk afterwards.” To emphasize his point, Shiro stole Keith’s bayard and left, pausing at the door. “And don’t even _think_ about doing hand-to-hand combat, or I’ll have Coran put a limit on you again.” Shiro left and Keith knew he meant it. 

Cursing, Keith pushed himself into a sitting position, which made him curse for an entirely different reason. As much as he hated to admit it, Shiro _was_ right, Keith _had_ been pushing himself too hard. But what else was he supposed to do? Lance was missing and it’s not like he could go fly around the galaxy calling out his name.

Or maybe he could…

Keith shook his head. That would _definitely_ get him in trouble. Hissing at the pain, Keith forced himself to his feet and made his way to his room. After a workout like that, a cold shower would feel like heaven. Keith also knew that Shiro planned to follow up on his second threat of talking after he showered. He wrinkled his nose at the thought of that.

“One thing at a time,” Keith told himself. That’s what got him through that year alone in the desert when Shiro disappeared and it would get him through now. Besides, at least he knew Lance was still alive and relatively knew what had happened to him, so that was better. Keith sighed, “We’ll find you Lance, don’t worry. Knowing Pidge and Allura, it won’t take them long. Just hang on.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, now we start getting into the good stuff. I also kinda peg Keith as possibly having some separation anxiety, making him extra worried. Depending on how you want to read it, he's probably worried more so than the others for a different reason as well. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think, I'd love to hear from you all! 
> 
> P.S. let me know if you find any grammatical mistakes and I will fix them.

Time passed agonizingly slow, even more so in space. Days quietly turned into weeks and there was still no sign of Lance. Keith had noticed two things since then: one, Lance’s absence was slowly driving him insane and two, somehow it wasn’t slowly driving the _others_ insane. Keith didn’t know what else to do besides train, pausing every once in a while for food and sleep.

Occasionally, the team would take a side mission, pausing their search to help someone who was stranded or escorting shipments or providing medical supplies to refugees. Keith had wanted to question them to see if anyone had heard anything about Lance’s whereabouts, but the others had elected to not make it public that Voltron was missing a paladin. If word got out that they couldn’t form Voltron, the Galra would get wind of it and launch a full-scale attack.

It was odd, if Keith was being really honest, that Lance’s absence would bother him so much. For as much as they were usually at each other’s throats, one would think that Keith would be relieved to finally have some peace and quiet. He decided that if it was anything, it was _too_ quiet. Keith wasn’t sure if he could equate Lance’s disappearance to the time when Shiro went missing after Kerberos, but after thinking about it for a while, he decided it wasn’t the same. 

When news of the Kerberos crash had reached Keith, he didn’t want to believe it, but eventually reality set in and proceeded to rip a hole through his chest, effectively shredding his already abused heart. And then he got kicked out from the Garrison and had nowhere to go except the lonely desert shack that no one had reclaimed after his dad had passed away. It wasn’t hard to recall all the lonely nights where he sank so low into despair that he thought he’d never be able to crawl out.

_No, this is different,_ Keith realized one night, laying on his bed. He was supposed to be sleeping, but it eluded him, as usual. It was different because there was always friction between him and Lance that typically got in the way of trying to work together. It was different because this time Keith was at least around other people and it didn’t feel like his world was slowly crumbling to pieces. It was different because they were in the middle of an intergalactic war with four teenagers and a traumatized 25-year-old trying to pilot the most advanced weapon in the universe. Keith knew it was unrealistic to expect everyone to make it through, but a foolish part of him hoped that that never became the case.

It was thoughts like these that caused Keith to find himself in the training room more often than not. He had tried to help the others in locating Lance, but he snapped and blew up at them within two minutes, so it was better if he just stayed away and let them do what they did best. Besides, he knew his fuse was particularly short lately and some days it was all he could do not to punch a hole in the nearest wall.

One time after the training robot had given Keith a particularly good thrashing, he had humored himself by going to visit Kaltenecker. He knew Lance liked to hang around her when he was upset sometimes and idly wondered if she missed Lance too. But more often than not, when he wasn't training or running side missions, Keith found himself sitting in the Blue Lion’s hangar. He would go and sit in front of her, hugging his knees, idly thinking to the lion and himself, muttering comments every once and while out loud.

On one particular night, Keith had worked his frustrations up pretty good and was hit with a horrible thought.

_What if he’s already dead?_

Keith laid there for a moment and couldn’t believe that he would even think such a thing. But of course, that one bad thought opened the doors for several others and they came pouring out. _What if we’re wasting our time? I mean—I want to find him too, but what if he’s…he’s gone? Should we be looking for a new paladin for Blue then? That would certainly explain why the Galra aren’t demanding to turn over Voltron._

 _But wouldn’t we be able to tell through Voltron or something?_ Another part of Keith's mind wondered. _Surely Allura can tell that his Quintessence or whatever is still around, right?_ Try as Keith might, once he went down a rabbit hole he couldn’t get out, and that’s how Shiro found him on the training deck in the middle of the night.

“Keith, what the hell are you doing up at this hour?” Shiro demanded. Keith parried the incoming attacks before he spotted an opening and sliced through the training robot’s torso. The robot evaporated and Keith put his hands on his knees, panting from the exertion. Shiro then came over. “Keith, it’s the middle of the night, you should be resting.”

“So should you,” Keith grunted, not too nicely.

Shiro didn’t reply, instead grabbing his arm and tugging him out of the training deck. Keith let Shiro lead him and realized they were headed to the kitchen. When they got there, Shiro made him sit down and then got him a packet of water. “Can’t sleep either huh?” Shiro said.

Keith accepted the water and took a sip, savoring the coolness. “No,” he replied quietly.

“You’ve been quieter than usual, is everything okay?” Shiro asked gently.

Keith shrugged, unsure what to say. “Nothing I seem to say is nice lately, so…”

“So it’s better to stay quiet.”

Keith nodded. “You saw how I snapped at Pidge. She’s just as stressed as I am, I get it, but right now it’s just easier if I avoid everyone.” Shiro nodded in understanding, but didn’t reply. A silence fell between them, neither of them having much to contribute to the conversation to keep it going.

_If Lance was here—_ Keith killed the thought before his brain ever had a chance to finish it. Shiro must have noticed, because a concerned look was now directed in Keith’s direction.

“Something on your mind?” Shiro questioned.

Keith wasn’t sure if he should tell Shiro or not, but found himself asking anyways. “What if he’s dead?” Keith wondered quietly.

Shiro took a very deep breath, thinking. He was quiet for a moment before answering. “While that is a possibility, I don’t think that’s the case. Allura can still feel his connection to the Blue Lion, so it’s just a matter of finding him.” Keith didn’t answer, keeping his gaze trained on the floor. Shiro came over and laid a reassuring hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Hey, we’ll find him, okay? You found me, after all. I’m sure we can find the world’s chattiest paladin no problem.”

A small smile crossed Keith’s face. “I know…he’s not my favorite person to be around, but…” Keith trailed off, unsure what to say.

“But he’s still a vital part of the group,” Shiro finished. Keith nodded, suddenly feeling tired. Shiro must have sensed it, because he was herding Keith toward the door. “Come on, let’s get to bed.”

Then came one day when they were infiltrating a Galra base, hoping to get intel on the Empire. No one said it, but everyone was hoping to find information on Lance’s whereabouts. Keith had never been much of a religious person, but he prayed to whatever god out there that they found something.

Pidge was in the middle of downloading while Hunk, Shiro, and Keith stood guard when they heard a great boom.

“Uh…what was that?” Hunk asked nervously.

“Explosion?” Shiro guessed.

Another distant boom sounded, reverberating through the base, and all of the sudden the alarms started blaring. So much for stealth.

“Pidge, how’s downloading going?” Shiro asked.

“72% done,” Pidge relayed.

“I guess the good news is that the explosion will draw the Galra away from us.”

“Yeah, but who set off the explosion?” Hunk wondered.

“I’m gonna go check it out,” Keith announced.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Shiro said. “We came here for the intel.”

“I’ll be quick, reconnaissance only. If it looks to dangerous, I’ll pull out,” Keith argued.

“Alright, but be careful,” Shiro relented. Keith nodded and quickly made his way through the base toward where he thought the explosion originated. He was on high alert as he snuck through the hallways, having to hide a couple times as soldiers ran by. Thankfully the alarms helped hide his footsteps.

Another explosion sounded, much louder this time and shaking the base. Keith crept closer and soon he could hear shouting, along with the distinct sound of blasters firing. He realized that the commotion was coming from a hangar, different than the one they had snuck in with the Green Lion. Keith couldn’t tell what was going on without peaking and took a deep breath before looking around the corner.

To Keith’s surprise, he saw Lotor and his generals darting through the sentries and soldiers, easily mowing through the forces. Keith’s heart about stopped though when he spotted a sixth form fighting beside them. He didn’t even have to see the face to know who it was.

Lance.

Keith blinked and rubbed his eyes, unsure if he was seeing right. But sure enough, when he opened his eyes again, it was Lance alright, dressed in armor that matched that of Lotor and his generals. Keith was mesmerized at how easily Lance made his way through the crowd of sentries, dancing around their blasts and quickly incapacitating them with his own.

“Keith, we’re done downloading, time to go,” Shiro announced over the comms.

“Wait, we can’t leave yet,” Keith said. “I found Lance.” Keith could practically feel everyone’s relief through the comms.

“Where? Is he alright?” Pidge demanded.

“Seems to be, but Lotor’s here too, and for some reason Lance is working for him,” Keith relayed.

There was a pause, “Are you sure?” Shiro asked.

“Yes I’m sure! I’m going in after him,” Keith replied, drawing his bayard.

“Keith wait, if Lance is working for Lotor, then you need to get out of there. You’re going to be outnumbered. You can’t win this fight. Retreat immediately,” Shiro ordered.

Keith gritted his teeth, debating his options. He knew in his gut that Shiro was right. Even if he teamed up with Lance, they would still be outnumbered. There was no way that either of them could fight their way out; fighting a general one-on-one was bad enough, but two against five or even one against six was practically suicide.

“Keith, you need to get out of there. Retreat immediately,” Shiro repeated.

Keith closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and willed his bayard to transform into a sword. “Sorry Shiro.” And with that, Keith took off toward the fight, ignoring Shiro’s shouts in his ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for Keith to figure out what the hell is going on.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the next part! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday even if it was a bit different than usual. I hope everyone stays safe and well out there. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think, I would love to hear from everyone!

Keith grunted as he was hauled between two guards, hands bound behind him. He thrashed against their hold, trying to get a footing, but they held on tight. Finally he gave up and went limp as they dragged him along. He knew he should have retreated when Shiro had ordered him to, but after seeing Lance after so long, he just _couldn’t._

When Keith had rushed into the fight, Lance had immediately attacked him, catching him off guard. Keith had instinctively fought back, though he tried to not to hurt Lance. When it came clear that Lance wasn’t coming easily, Keith knew he should have ran, but he would have rather been captured than leave Lance a second time, which is how he ended up in his current situation.

Which begged the question of why was Lance working for Lotor? Maybe Lotor had blackmailed him or something? Or maybe Lance had been brainwashed? Who knew?

But the one thing Keith _did_ know was that he was getting to the bottom of this.

They came to a set of double doors that opened automatically. The guards hauling Keith threw him in unceremoniously. Keith hit the floor rather hard and gritted his teeth, hissing at his now stinging knee.

“Ah, the Red Paladin of Voltron,” a familiar voice sneered. Keith looked up to see Lotor sitting on a large throne-like chair, his generals placed around him, standing there menacingly. Keith’s eyes darted around the room as he searched for Lance, but saw no sign of him. “So generous of you to grace us with your presence,” Lotor mused. His voice snapped Keith back to attention. The guards moved and hauled Keith partially up, forcing him to kneel. Each guard kept a hand placed firmly on Keith’s shoulders.

“Where’s Lance?” Keith demanded.

“Lance?” Lotor echoed. “How very interesting. Your predicament is far more serious than his, and yet you still worry about your comrade.”

“Where is he? What did you do to him?”

Lotor chuckled. “Oh don’t worry, he’s in good hands.”

“You bastard! Where. Is. He?” Keith shouted, practically screaming.

Lotor’s conniving grin disappeared. “He’s far better off than he ever was hanging around with you and your pathetic lot! I have turned him into the deadliest weapon with a gun! He is an invaluable asset to my team, one that _yours_ sorely squandered.”

Keith struggled against the guards attempting to hold him down. “You evil, son of a—”

“That’s enough,” a familiar voice ordered. Keith froze when he saw Lance step out from behind Lotor’s chair. Keith could have melted from relief, but when he studied Lance’s dark expression, his relief quickly turned to worry.

“Lance...” Keith said softly. Lance had traded his paladin armor for a suit that matched Lotor and the rest of his generals, complete with black and navy blue coloration and orange and royal blue accents. Instead of his bayard, Lance now held a Galran model of a blaster, which disappeared into his suit just like a bayard. Keith’s chest ached at the sight, and even more so at the piercing gaze Lance was now giving him.

Lance stuck his chin out in the air and stared down his nose at Keith. “Always temperamental. Such a shame.” He made a tsking nose and glanced at Lotor. “Whatever shall we do with him?” Lotor leaned back in his chair and folded his hands, contemplating.

“I say we just kill him,” Zethrid said and punched her fist.

“Aw, and here I was hoping he’d be more entertaining,” Ezor whined and pouted.

Lotor looked to his newest general. “Lance, my dear, what do _you_ think we should do with him?”

Lance put a hand to his chin in thought. “The other paladins will surely come. They can’t form Voltron without him, so I say we lay a trap for them. Use him as bait.”

“Excellent idea!” Lotor clapped his hands cheerfully. “Lance, you can oversee the operation. Meanwhile the girls and I will begin preparations. Take good care of our prisoner.” Lotor rose and stalked past Keith, not even giving him a passing glance. The girls followed him out.

“What shall we do with the prisoner sir?” A guard questioned.

Lance regarded Keith and rubbed his chin in thought. “I suppose throw him in the brig for now.”

“Lance, wait! Don’t do this!” Keith blurted. Now that Lotor was gone, Keith might have a chance.

Lance shrugged. “Why not? I’m sure it’ll be exciting.”

Keith’s guards began to drag him away, but Keith fought against them. “Are you mad? You’re going to get everyone caught Lance! How could you do this? How could you be working for _Lotor,_ of all people? How could you do this to us? We’re a team!” Keith never cried, but he found himself on the verge of tears. Keith didn’t want to—no— _refused_ to believe that Lance would ever betray them. But there he was, in full Galran armor, and not a shred of sympathy in his eyes. It was almost too much to bear. Tears welled up in Keith’s eyes, threatening to spill over.

Lance stalked over to Keith and knelt down in front of him. He reached out a hand and cupped Keith’s chin, running a thumb over his cheek and wiping away a single tear. “You say that as if we’ve met before.”

Keith’s heart dropped and he froze. Chills ran up his spine and a deep sense of dread began to well up from the bottom of his stomach. Even though his mind was racing, he still struggled to comprehend the new information. “You...You don’t remember me?” Keith whispered.

Lance studied Keith’s face for a moment and frowned. He withdrew his hand and stood. “Alright, take him away.”

Keith struggled against the guards as they tried to haul him away. His panic quickly turned to desperation. “You don’t remember, do you? What’s the last thing you remember? Lance!”

“Oh, and gag him please,” Lance added. “He’s boring me.”

“Lance—” Keith began, but a guard cut him off. Keith tried to catch Lance’s gaze again, but he had turned away.

Keith thrashed against the guards dragging him away with all his might, screaming and yelling and even trying to bite them when their hands got to close to his face. His guards then elected to cuff his ankles together as well to keep him from struggling so much. One of them had grabbed some sort of metal gag and fastened the straps behind his head while the other did their best to pin him down, the metal somehow morphing to fit his face. Initially, Keith had been so filled with rage that the gag hadn’t bothered him much. All that mattered was trying to get to Lance. One of the guards had finally had enough and knocked him over the head, temporarily rendering him unconscious.

When Keith awoke, he was being drug between the two guards again. Keith went to struggle against them again, but he had a killer headache and probably a sizable goose egg to match. Instead Keith had tried to make a mental map of the place, but he didn’t get to see much before they had arrived at his cell and threw him inside.

Keith laid there in his cell, contemplating the new information he had received. Keith wasn’t sure how long he had been alone laying there on the cold metal, but it had given him plenty of time to think. _Lance has no idea who I am. How can he forget me so easily? He remembered me even after I dropped out of the Garrison. Heck, I didn’t even recognize him at first, but he knew me right away. It’s_ got _to be some sort of spell or, or… or something! I wonder if the Galra have any sort of technology for erasing and implanting fake memories._ It didn’t seem like much of a stretch, considering Shiro also had some amnesia. Keith also knew for a fact that Shiro had also suffered a blow to the head. But for someone’s memories to be completely gone and/or possibly replaced? It seemed unreal.

_I guess that explains why we could never find him in any of the prison logs we searched through,_ Keith thought ruefully. Keith grunted and shifted his position, his breathing hindered by the stupid gag (okay, maybe "muzzle" was a more accurate description seeing as it went up over his nose, but Keith was _not_ going to refer it to that). When Keith’s thoughts weren’t occupied by Lance, they always instantly turned to his predicament. He had little to no movement thanks to the binders and had tried more than once to sit up to no avail. Keith _hated_ having the gag on and had instantly tried to use the floor or his shoulder to rub it off, but he only succeeded in making it more uncomfortable. It seemed to be made out of some sort of flexible metal. Two small holes had been cut for his nostrils, but they weren’t big enough and Keith constantly felt out of breath. On top of that, it pressed painfully into his face, especially on the bridge of his nose. A small part of Keith wondered if this was how Shiro got his scar.

Speaking of Shiro, he was probably furious with Keith about disobeying direct orders. Keith had always been a bit of a “discipline issue,” but for some reason he always felt icky inside when he went against Shiro’s wishes. Sometimes Keith would disobey on purpose out of pure habit—and perhaps of spite—but it always left him feeling rotten later on. He hated the feeling, but this time was different. He got the feeling that everyone else was seemed sure that Lance had betrayed them, not instantly demanding that they go back and rescue Lance, but Keith had felt it in his gut that something was wrong. Sure he had gotten captured as a result, but his suspicions had been confirmed.

Lance had no recollection of him whatsoever. And if he didn’t remember Keith, Keith feared that he didn’t remember anything. _Which means that Lotor has been spoon-feeding him lies—manipulating him—and Lance has no idea. He’s probably concocted some story to convince Lance that we’re the bad guys._

 _That_ really made Keith’s blood boil. He grunted and thrashed against his bindings again with renewed energy, but they held as firm as ever. Keith screamed in frustration and stopped, attempting to take deep breaths through his nose. He laid there for a moment, trying to catch his breath. Keith supposed that good news was since he had a better idea what had happened to Lance, he could start making a plan to for him to escape—for both of them to escape—hopefully before whatever sinister things Lotor was planning could be carried out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will probably end up being six or seven chapters, but I'm not sure at this point.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, chapter 4 already? I guess it goes a little faster though when they're shorter, but yay for you guys! Time to find out what are Lance and Lotor planning.

Keith decided that he hated being drug along the ground like luggage, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do. When some soldiers came for him, Keith elected not to struggle against them—not yet anyways. If he had to guess, he figured they had come to get him for Lance’s plan. What he didn’t expect was the bag that they placed over his head so he couldn’t see where they were going, further interfering with his ability to breath. He tried his best to take deep steady breaths, but the smell of the bag was overwhelming, increasing his panic.

As the soldiers marched him along, Keith tried to keep track of the lefts and rights that they took, but after a while he lost count. Keith got the feeling they were walking in circles on purpose. Eventually they came to a stop somewhere and he heard automatic doors opening. They moved and stopped again, and the doors shut. Keith wondered what was happening, but then he detected the faint feeling of his stomach rising up.

They were in an elevator, traveling down it seemed. Once the elevator came to a stop, they hauled him forward and walked a short distance before they came to another set of automatic doors. They stepped through the doors and walked a short distance before lowering him to the ground. Strong hands grabbed his arms and helped him sit up. Keith was surprised when he felt the binders removed from his wrists. He seized the opportunity and surged forward, trying to rip himself free of their grasp. Whoever had a grip on him held fast and someone hit him on his head again, right near the spot that was already sore from before. Keith stopped struggling instantly and moaned at the queasiness he suddenly felt. His captors took advantage of his lack of movement and relocked his binders around some sort of metal pole. A chain was also wrapped around him, further trussing him to the pole.

When they were finished, the bag was yanked off of his head. Keith shook his head and blinked, taking in his new surroundings. Keith didn’t inspect the room long, for his eyes landed on Lance—Lance who was busy issuing orders to the other soldiers. Keith screamed at the blue paladin and vigorously fought against his bindings, biting back the nausea. Lance glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before turning his attention back to the soldier he was addressing.

Keith stopped and decided to save his breath for a more opportune moment. He rested his head back against the pole and took deep breaths through his nose. Patience was never his strong suit, but he would need it now more than ever. While Lance was preoccupied with other things, Keith finally took the time to figure out where the hell he was. As Keith inspected the room, he discovered he was in something that resembled a power generator room. Huge cylindrical glass tubes lined a long hallway that ran from the floor to the ceiling, with arcs of magenta lighting that sparked around inside them. Counsels of some sort were on either side of the hallway, close to where Keith sat. When Keith craned his neck over his shoulder, he discovered that a massive power reactor sat directly behind him. Keith went back to watching Lance again, wondering what the Cuban boy could be up to.

Finally, Lance stalked over toward Keith, flanked by two robotic sentries. The sentries split and went over to the control counsels. Holographic screens popped up and they began typing away on buttons. Keith paid no heed to them and tried to elicit Lance’s attention again. Keith grunted and growled at Lance, trying various noises to get Lance to notice.

“I would recommend saving your voice,” Lance said shortly. He then turned to the sentries. “Are the preparations ready?” The sentries nodded and Lance grinned. “Good.” Lance held up his arm and a holoscreen popped up from his suit’s gauntlet, revealing Lotor’s face. “Prince Lotor, preparations are all done on my end. How are things going?”

“Excellent. Everything is moving along swiftly,” Lotor answered.

“Good. Shall I begin then?” Lance asked.

“We are almost complete. Wait fifteen more doboshes before beginning.” Lance nodded and the image of Lotor disappeared, along with the holoscreen.

_Before they begin what?_ Keith wondered.

_Executing their plan to use me as bait,_ Keith thought, answering his own question. _But how are they going to do that when none of the others know where I—we—are? I don’t know, but somehow I need to talk some sense into Lance._ Which was so frustrating to do when he couldn’t talk! Keith started yelling again, his cries muffled by the gag. “Lance!” he tried, but his jaw wouldn’t move. Any attempt to form coherent words yielded fruitless results. Keith struggled and thrashed against his bindings wildly now, opening his eyes occasionally to see what Lance’s reaction was.

“Struggling won’t help. You should save your energy,” Lance sighed. Keith tried a different tactic and stared at Lance with a pleading expression, hoping he would get the message. Lance tilted his head at Keith and Keith held his breath, praying that Lance would be curious enough to let him speak. Lance stalked over to Keith and squatted down in front of him, studying the red paladin’s expression. Then, to Keith’s relief, Lance reached behind his head, undid the clasps, and removed the gag. “Any last words?”

“Lance, please listen to me. Lotor must have somehow wiped your memories and has told you lies about us. You’re a paladin of Voltron, sworn to protect the universe!” Keith said, rushing to get his words in.

Lance arched an eyebrow at him. “What makes you think that?”

“Because you don’t remember me. You _never_ pass up a chance to pick on me or make me the butt of a joke. Lotor must have wiped your memories somehow and made up this grand story about you betraying us or something and working for him.”

“Funny, that’s exactly what he said about you,” Lance remarked. He stood up and walked back over to check on the sentries' progress.

Keith froze. “…What exactly did Lotor tell you?” he asked slowly.

Lance was quiet for a moment before answering. “That I was one of his top generals and I had fought by his side for Deca-phoebs. That one day on a mission we crossed paths with Voltron and I was captured by you. Lotor rescued me from you, but I didn’t remember him.”

Keith’s eyes widened in horror. “But you’re a paladin Lance! You pilot the Blue Lion, remember?”

“Lotor said you might say that. He said that the princess of Altea manipulates people’s memories so that she can get them to join her.”

“That’s not true!”

“How do you know? She probably did the same thing to you what she was going to do to me. She wiped my memories so there wouldn’t be any resistance when she offered a chance to join her.”

Keith was startled by the complexity of the story, but then something occurred to him. “How do you know that’s not what Lotor did to you?” Keith demanded. Lance seemed to ignore him, but Keith saw his eyes widen briefly. That was enough to know that hopefully the seeds of doubt had been sewn.

“We’re at fifteen doboshes, begin phase one,” Lance instructed. The sentries nodded and began typing away on the holoscreens.

“Wait, Lance, what’s phase one? What are you planning? Lance?” Keith called. “Lance?” Keith tensed when heard the sound of something charging up and looked up. Energy began to gather in a tube above him, a tube that was…connected to the pole he was chained to. Keith’s eyes widened, “Oh no. Lance wait, wait Lance. Lance—” Keith was cut off when energy surged through his body and he let out an ear-splitting scream. It was as if his whole body had been lit on fire and all his muscles were cramping up. Keith was barely aware of anything through the pain and scrunched his eyes shut. “…Lance.” Keith managed to crack his eyes open and caught a glimpse of his teammate.

“Increase intensity,” Lance ordered. The sentries nodded and rose the bars on the holorscreens. The energy coursing through Keith went from a burning fire to a searing blaze. Pain exploded through his head with blinding whiteness. Another scream erupted from Keith’s throat and he began to convulse.

_Lance…please…don’t do this…you’re a paladin of…Voltron,_ Keith thought desperately. 

Elsewhere in deep space, the Castle of Lions drifted through the stars. Everyone—minus Keith and Lance—had gathered in the bridge to discuss their options.

“What are we gonna do?” Hunk wondered.

“I’m currently scanning for the signature in Keith’s suit. It might take a while though,” Pidge announced.

Unbeknownst to them, the Red Lion’s eyes suddenly lit up and she let out a growl. She rose to her feet and suddenly shot out the hangar.

“That’s definitely a start, but we’ll need to—” Shiro began, but was interrupted when a holoscreen popped up and started beeping furiously at them.

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked.

Allura went over to investigate. “The Red Lion’s on the move! She must be going after Keith!” She announced.

“Get to the lions!” Shiro ordered.

“I’m coming with,” Allura said and Shiro nodded. Suddenly everyone was racing to their hangars and hastily climbed inside their lions. When they were all suited up and ready to fly, they took off after the Red Lion. Allura rode with Shiro in the Black Lion.

“Coran, track the Red Lion’s movements. She probably senses that Keith is in danger,” Allura ordered.

“On it,” Coran replied.

A screen popped up in the Black Lion, displaying a map with a fast moving red dot. “Hang on Keith, we’re coming,” Shiro said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both Lance and Lotor know the others won't come running even if they presented Keith on a silver platter, but if the Red Lion lead the others to them...


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are with chapter 5! Who knew I could write an entire chapter during a study break? If only I was that productive on my actual school work...
> 
> Let me know what you guys think, I'd love to hear from everyone!

Keith didn’t remember falling asleep, but for the second time today he found himself awaking from his slumber. The first thing he noticed was the pain—a dull ache that permeated throughout his body, making every position uncomfortable. His headache seemed fiercer than ever and the spot where he had been hit throbbed angrily at him.

_So maybe passing out is the better description,_ Keith thought ruefully. _I wonder how long I’ve been out?_ The second thing he noticed was that whenever he shifted, the movement sent stinging embers shooting up his muscles that only quieted down when he stopped. His arms and fingers were stiff and numb from the strain of the positionand he slowly opened and closed his hands, trying to work some feeling back into them.

The third thing Keith noticed was that the gag was back on him. Keith frowned in annoyance, but then something occurred to him. He looked up and scanned the room, looking for a particular tall lanky form.

Lance and the Galra sentries were gone, leaving Keith by himself.

Which meant the plan was already in motion. Keith was to be used as bait to lure the other paladins out. So somehow or another, two things had to happen: one, the others had to know Keith’s location, and two, a trap of some sorts had to be set. Keith was willing to bet the generator room itself was the trap, and he was sitting right in the middle of it. Either that, or some sort of pop-up cage would be activated when they ran toward Keith and activated it. Keith didn’t see a tripwire anywhere, but he supposed it could be invisible for that said reason.

But that still left the problem of them locating him. Even if Lotor laid the coordinates out on a silver platter, Keith knew they weren’t dumb enough to—

Red.

Red would come after him if he was in danger.

And Keith had been tortured until he passed out.

_Son of a bitch. Damn it Lance. They’ll definitely follow Red right into a trap,_ Keith realized. Keith was still wearing his paladin armor, which meant once they got close enough, Pidge would be able to triangulate his location. Keith slumped his head back against the pole and closed his eyes. _This is bad. This is_ really _bad. And I’m sitting in the generator room, which means there’s only one way in and one way out. Damn it Lance._ Even though Keith was cursing the blue paladin, he couldn’t help but notice the ingenuity behind the plan.

Lotor’s words suddenly came back to haunt Keith when he realized that Lance was smarter than he let onto. The thought made guilt curl in Keith’s stomach. If he was being honest, in Keith’s opinion, he didn’t think they had fully “squandered” Lance’s skills, but they definitely had not taken advantage of them either. And if Keith was _completely_ honest with himself, he had never really thought highly of Lance. The guy was constantly messing around or flirting with girls and putting the team in danger, not to mention that Lance seem to hate Keith’s guts and Keith didn’t have the foggiest idea why. Keith knew he had a temper and tried his hardest to keep it under control, but Lance always seemed to know how to push his buttons _just_ right to make him blow up.

_I know he’s mean to me—I’m not any better—but maybe I shouldn’t take everything he does and says at face value. I don’t know,_ Keith thought to himself. _I mean, he teases everyone, but he seems to go after me the most. Or maybe it’s some sort of backwards maneuver to make friends? It’s not like I would know._ Besides Shiro, Keith had never attempted to try and make any friends. It didn’t seem worth the effort if everyone already didn’t like him and avoided him. Keith wondered if Lance had ever attempted to make friends with him back at the Garrison and tried to recall if he ever did. Keith blinked, digging around in the depths of his own mind, trying to remember, but he came up blank. He found that most of his memories of that time involved Shiro. The others consisted mostly of getting in trouble with Commander Iverson or other students picking on him. 

_Well, if Lance made fun of me back then like he does now, then I definitely wouldn’t have bothered to get to know him. He’s such a show off too, always vying for attention._

 _But…he_ does _come through for the team when we need it the most. Like when Sendak had invaded the castle and was going to use Pidge as a hostage against us. And his plan on the Balmera was definitely better than mine. I just wish—_

“Keith! Oh thank god!” a familiar voice shouted, jarring Keith from his thoughts. Keith’s head suddenly snapped up and his eyes widened when he saw Shiro and the rest of the team—including Allura—running toward him. Keith yelled and shook his head vigorously.

_No! Don’t! It’s a trap! Don’t come any closer!_ Keith thought desperately. Shiro evidently noticed and paused.

“What’s wrong?” Shiro asked. Keith shook his head no and yelled louder, trying to warn them, but his throat was already raw from the all screaming he did earlier and it came out more like a whine. Keith had wondered why Lance had bothered to put the gag back on him, but now he knew it was to keep from warning the others.

“Something’s not right,” Shiro said. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the doors shut behind them, locking them in.

“It’s a trap!” Allura exclaimed.

“Maybe we can just shoot through the door?” Hunk wondered. He drew his bayard and it transformed into the giant handheld blaster. Hunk tried shooting at the door, but after a long string of blasts, Hunk paused, revealing the doors pristine as ever, completely intact and without a scratch. "Well, that didn't work." 

“Allura, Hunk, go free Keith. Pidge, try hacking into the door. I’m gonna see if I can melt it open,” Shiro instructed. Everyone nodded and split up. Shiro went back over to the door and activated his prosthetic to try to slice through it. Meanwhile Pidge pulled up a holoscreen over her wrist and began trying to override the doors. Allura and Hunk knelt down next to Keith.

“Hold on, we’ll get you out,” Hunk said. While Allura focused on trying to undo Keith’s binders, Hunk put his bayard away and turned his attention to Keith’s gag. “I uh—I suppose this was to keep you from warning us.” Keith nodded, suddenly feeling ashamed. “Um, okay, uh, let’s see how to get this off, um…” Hunk inspected the gag from all angles, his hands hesitating at the sides of Keith’s head. “Okay, um, hold still.” Hunk gently pushed Keith’s head down to try and get a look at the locking mechanism. Keith could feel Hunk fiddling with it to no avail. “Ugh, your hair’s in the way—oh, hold on, let’s see if this works.” All of the sudden Hunk yanked on the straps, jerking Keith’s head backward. Keith grunted in response and Hunk frowned when it didn’t budge. “Hm, okay, let’s try _this.”_ Hunk yanked again, but nothing happened. If Keith didn’t know any better, he would have suspected that Hunk was trying to pull his head right off his neck. Keith growled out a muffled complaint.

“Ugh, I can’t get this stupid thing off!” Hunk cried.

“And I can’t get his binders off,” Allura added. An idea suddenly occurred to Allura and she ran over to the green paladin. “Pidge, lend me your bayard.”

“Sure thing,” Pidge said. She manifested her bayard, transformed it into the mini arrow-shaped hand blade, simultaneously handing it to Allura while still keeping her eyes trained on the holoscreen. Allura returned to Keith and knelt down next to his feet. “Here we go, you’ll be out in a tick.” Allura sliced the blade across the binders encircling his feet, but the stubborn things did not break apart.

“Aw man, seriously?” Hunk groaned, echoing Keith’s thoughts.

“I can’t believe that didn’t work,” Allura admitted. She looked up at Keith, eyeing his gag. “But maybe it’ll work on this…” She scooted closer to Keith and held up Pidge’s bayard. Keith flinched and involuntarily recoiled away from her. She must have seen it, because she was assuring him moments later. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.” Keith knew she meant it, but it was different; one, because it was Allura and not Hunk, and two, she was holding a razor sharp blade next to his face that could electrocute people—and Keith had had enough electrocuting for the day. “Just hold really still, okay? If it helps, close your eyes.” Keith gulped and nodded, reluctantly closing his eyes. To his surprise, he felt Hunk’s hands encircling his to give him reassurance.

Keith squeezed Hunk’s hands as he felt the hum of the bayard next to his face and the slight tug of the gag. Then, to Keith’s relief, a couple seconds later Allura was pulling the gag off of his face and setting it on the ground. Keith’s eyes flew open and he gasped, sucking in a full breath of air for the first time since having it placed on him.

“Thanks,” he rasped, stretching his unrestrained jaw and wriggling his nose.

“Oh I’m so glad you’re okay!” Hunk exclaimed. He wrapped his muscular arms around Keith in a giant bearhug, effectively squeezing the air out of him.

“Okay…can’t…breathe,” Keith said with a strain.

Hunk released him. “Whoops, sorry.”

Allura stood up. “Shiro, we’ve got a problem. We can’t get Keith’s binders off.” Without warning, the giant tubes with the energy arcs inside started glowing brighter and began emitting a whirring crackling sound.

Pidge looked up at the tubes, her sharp eyes analyzing the contents. “Looks like we’ve got two now, those reactors are set to blow.”

“And we can’t get the door open. Now what?” Allura wondered.

Shiro stopped his assault on the doors, panting from the exertion. “Alright, Pidge, see if you can hack into the systems controlling the reactors,” he ordered.

“Already on it,” Pidge answered.

“Try using the control counsels, that’s what they were using before,” Keith suggested. Pidge looked up from her holoscreen and followed Keith’s gaze. She then ran over to the counsel and fired it up to see if she could do something from there.

Shiro ran over and laid an affectionate hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Alright, let’s see if we can get these off.” He started with the binders around Keith’s ankles and wrapped his prosthetic around it, careful not to touch Keith. Then, with a deep breath, Shiro activated his hand and attempted to melt through the metal. The smell of molten metal filled the air, acrid and slightly burning Keith’s nose hairs. From the look on Shiro’s face, Keith could tell he didn’t like the smell either. Thankfully, and a couple of minutes the binders released his ankles and fell to the ground. Shiro then focused on the chain around Keith’s chest and clasped his metal hand around the links. The progress was agonizingly slow, the chain even thicker than his binders.

“That quiznacking Galran prince! He knew we would come after you,” Allura cursed, staring at the tubes. 

Keith shook his head. “Not Lotor, Lance.”

Her head whipped around at this, her eyes narrowed in disgust and face furious. “Lance? Why I oughta—”

“Wait! No! It’s not like that! Lotor’s wiped his memories somehow and has been spoon-feeding him lies this whole time. Lance has no idea who he is,” Keith interrupted.

Allura’s eyebrows shot up at this, as did everyone else’s. “Are you certain?” she asked quietly.

Keith nodded. “He didn’t even remember _me.”_

“Really? He remembered you even after you left the Garrison,” Hunk pointed out.

“Exactly,” Keith agreed.

“Either that, or he’s a superb liar and it’s all an act and Lotor’s blackmailing him somehow, but that’s highly doubtful,” Allura mused.

“No, he believes that he’s worked alongside Lotor for years—deca-pheobs—and was captured by us where we wiped his memories and Lotor ‘rescued’ him,” Keith explained.

“That’s…concerning,” Shiro muttered. He had melted through the chain and had moved to the binders around Keith’s wrists, making sure to avoid his hands especially.

“Um…is anyone else concerned about the lightning bolts in the tubes?” Hunk asked worriedly. The tubes were absolutely _full_ of lightning bolts now, leaping around the glass and buzzing like an angry swarm of hornets. As soon as Hunk mentioned it, cracks started to form along the glass. “We gotta get out of here!”

“Not without Keith,” Shiro said sternly. “Besides, the doors are locked.”

“Yeah, and this a Galran reactor room that’s about to overload!” Hunk pointed out nervously.

“Okay, got it!” Pidge announced.

“Got what? The door? The reactors? Were you able to shut them off? What do you got?” Hunk questioned frantically.

“No, but I managed to stop them from overloading any further. They’re gonna discharge excess energy here in about 70 ticks,” Pidge answered. Just then Shiro managed to melt the rest of the way through Keith’s binders and the red paladin sagged forward, surprised by his sudden inability to hold himself up. Thankfully Shiro caught him before he smacked into the ground and put one of Keith’s arm’s over his broad shoulders, holding his wrist. The other arm clung to Keith’s waist, helping him stand. Keith felt bad about making Shiro lean over so much, but to be fair, his legs were wobbling underneath him.

“So what do we do?” Keith wondered.

“If everyone gets in a tight circle, we may be able to form a shield around ourselves, but I’m open to suggestions,” Allura said.

“We’re running out of time and don’t have any other ideas. It’s worth a shot,” Shiro said.

“If we huddle up against the counsel, it should give us some protection,” Pidge suggested.

“Alright, let’s do it,” Shiro said. He helped Keith over to the group and sat him down on the ground where he could crouch down next to him. Shiro activated his shield on one arm while using the other to help support Keith. Although Keith’s arms were slightly numb from the binders, he still managed to hold up his own shield. The others gathered around them, doing the same. Soon they had a protective cocoon of shields around them. Keith worried about the gaps in between the individual shields, but they were just going to have hope for the best.

“Here it comes!” Pidge shouted. The buzzing crackling sound increased to a full on explosion, purple lightning erupting from the surface of the glass as the mechanisms overloaded. Keith watched the barrage of lightning strike their shields before scrunching his eyes shut. Somewhere he could hear Hunk crying behind him, but it was hard to pick out amongst the blasts of energy.

As soon as it started, it ended. What may have only lasted twenty seconds at most seemed like an eternity to Keith. One eye peaked open, and to his relief, no more lightning was trying to attack them.

“Good work guys,” Shiro said. His shield deactivated and the others followed suit and he turned to Keith. “Can you stand?”

“Yeah…I think so,” Keith said. He grunted as he got up on one knee, but when he went to stand up, his legs fumbled with the weight. Luckily Shiro caught him before he could fall and helped him the rest of the way up.

“You okay?”

“Yeah…I’ll be okay,” Keith said, but Shiro didn’t look convinced. Keith pulled away and stood all on his own, flashing Shiro a grin in assurance, though he didn’t mentioned the fatigue he felt in his legs—and the rest of his body for that matter. 

“Alright, change of plans. Hunk and Pidge, go retrieve Lance’s armor and get to the lions. They’ll likely be guarded. Take Keith with, Allura and I will go find Lance,” Shiro instructed.

“I want to come with,” Keith announced.

“You can barely stand and you’re weaponless,” Shiro pointed out.

“I know, but I also know Lance, and if he’s anywhere, he’s going to be guarding my helmet and bayard. I’m coming with,” Keith maintained.

“Alright, but I’m not rushing to your aid if you fall down,” Shiro said. When they turned their attention to the doors, to their surprise, the doors’ locking mechanism shorted out during the overload and could be forced apart. “Alright, let’s go.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being a bit longer than the other ones so far, but more for you guys! I had to work through some serious writer's block to write this, but hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. 
> 
> Also, proofreading was very minimal. I'll go back and edit later, but for now, sorry for the grammar mistakes.

Running through the halls of the Galra battleship, Keith was surprised by the lack of soldiers and sentries running around. No, surprised wasn’t the right word, it was highly suspicious.

“Where are all the Galra?” Shiro wondered.

“I noticed that as well,” Allura admitted.

“Okay, stop,” Keith said and paused. The others stopped and turned around to look at Keith. “Something’s not right. I can feel it.” Keith ran a hand through his bangs, his mind racing to come up with answers. _Okay, what would Lance do?_ Keith wondered. An image of Lance trying to fit his bayard in his mouth came to mind and Keith shook his head. _No, not that Lance. The Lance that’s deceptively smart and great at making plans and surprisingly intimidating when he wants to be._ _After all, he was the mastermind behind the plan that had failed, or maybe…_ Keith’s eyes widen when he realized something. “Or maybe it _didn’t_ fail!”

“Keith? What’s—” Shiro began.

“We gotta get to the others!” Keith interrupted and took off the opposite direction, but Shiro caught his arm.

"Whoa, Keith, slow down, what's wrong?" Shiro asked.

"Try and contact Hunk and Pidge!"

Shiro gave him a confused look. “What? Why?”

“Cause I think Lance’s armor is another trap. I don’t know if Lance is behind this one or not too, but I’ll bet he’s there,” Keith explained. He had a bad feeling in his gut—and it was never wrong.

“Guys, we got a situation,” Shiro announced. “We’re certain that Lance’s armor is also a trap. Wait for us until we get there.”

“Were you able to reach them?” Keith asked and Shiro nodded.

“They’re on high alert and won’t enter any rooms with a door. They’re still headed toward Lance’s armor, but will hang back until we get there.”

“Great, then let’s get moving,” Allura said and the other two nodded.

Even with the clear lack of Galra, they still moved swiftly and quietly through the halls. Allura had changed her skin color to a purple hue and led the way, giving Keith and Shiro a chance to hide in case they were spotted. But as they weaved their way through the halls of the ship (or base? Keith had no idea where they were, or if they were in space or on a planet, but he was pretty sure they were on a ship), they never met anyone else. There wasn’t a soul in sight apart from the three of them.

“No sentries,” Shiro whispered.

“Nor soldiers,” Allura added. “Highly suspicious.”

“Normally a place like this would be crawling with Galra.”

_This is so weird. I_ know _there were robots earlier, so where the hell are they?_ Keith thought to himself. “Did you not see any when you came to get me?” he questioned. Allura and Shiro exchanged looks.

“Come to think of it, no, we didn’t,” Allura admitted.

“Just reconfirms that they were expecting us,” Shiro said.

“Yeah, and I’d be willing to bet this whole place is booby trapped,” Keith muttered. They continued sneaking through the halls for a little bit longer until they came across a door. They halted, highly aware that there could be Galra inside. Shiro moved past them and crouched next to the door. Then, with his back to the wall, he slowly stood up and risked a glance.

“There’s no one in there,” Shiro reported.

“What?” Allura exclaimed.

“No, but I think I see Keith’s helmet and bayard,” Shiro said. Both Allura and Keith risked a peak into the room, and sure enough, he could see the red and white of both objects standing out against the purple metal walls. Keith’s gaze dropped to the lock pad on the wall next to the door. He went to put his hand on it to open the door, but stopped and shot the others a questioning look before he touched it. Allura and Shiro exchanged glances again before Shiro nodded. Keith nodded back and pressed his hand against the pad. The door clicked and slid open, revealing an empty room save for his helmet and bayard, sitting as pristine as ever on a small table. 

“Let’s get your stuff before anyone finds us.” Allura whispered back. She moved to enter, but Keith caught her arm.

“Wait, remember what happened last time? It’s probably a trap again,” Keith said.

“So what are we supposed to do? We can’t leave without your stuff, it’ll compromise us.”

“You guys go get Keith’s stuff. I’ll stand in the doorway to make sure it doesn’t close,” Shiro instructed. Keith shrugged and lead the way in, his eyes scanning the room for anything suspicious. Allura was looking as well, watching his back as he approached the table. When they made it to the table with his helmet and bayard, Keith inspected the table from every direction to make sure there were no tripwires or bombs or anything hidden.

“Will you hurry up?” Allura hissed.

“I’m just making sure it’s safe,” Keith replied. Once he was satisfied there were no visible traps waiting to be sprung, Keith picked up his helmet and set it over his head. Next he grabbed his bayard and commanded it to disappear into his suit. He then looked up to Allura and nodded. “Alright, let’s go.” They successfully made it back to Shiro and the door and exited the room.

“Good, now let’s go find Hunk and Pidge,” Shiro said and they left.

They had maybe made it 30 yards* when they came to an intersection. They paused, debating which way to go.

“Which way do we take?” Keith asked.

Shiro pulled up a holoscreen on his gauntlet, revealing a map of the structure and five colored dots, three clustered together, and two moving further off away from them. “Looks like right,” Shiro announced and closed the screen. Allura took place leading again, but they maybe got three steps before Shiro all of the sudden dropped to the ground with a yell.

Keith’s head whipped around. “Shiro? Shiro what’s wrong?”

“Something’s wrong, I can’t lift my arm,” Shiro grunted. Keith ran over and knelt beside Shiro. To his horror, Shiro was unable to lift his right arm—the prosthetic—off of the floor.

“Has this ever happened before?” Keith asked.

“No, ergh, it’s—it’s like it’s _glued_ to the floor,” Shiro answered, struggling to get up. Keith came around to his other side, grabbed Shiro’s hand and yanked up, but to his surprise it didn’t budge. Shiro’s hand and fingers were free, but the rest of his arm all the way up to his shoulder were stuck firmly to the floor. Keith readjusted his grip, dug his heels down, and yanked again, his already tired muscles straining.

“Come…on…budge!” Keith growled through gritted teeth. His grip on Shiro’s hand slipped and he fell back on his rear with a grunt.

“Don’t bother, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” a familiar voice sneered. Keith’s head shot up just in time to see two of Lotor’s generals jump down from the rafters running across the ceiling. “We made sure to make it a fair fight,” the larger of the two sneered. She was tall—tall for even a Galra—and very muscular with a bluish purple color and two large pink ears. Keith racked his brain, trying to remember her name from the last time they fought. He was pretty sure it was Zethrid.

Her companion was considerably shorter and skinnier, with a pinkish red color and blue and yellow facial markings. A long…ponytail?...grew from the back of her head, with multicolored stripes. If Keith was remembering correctly, her name was Ezor.

“Where’s Lance?” Keith demanded. He rose to his feet and stepped in front of Shiro protectively.

“He’s elsewhere, but he’s not your primary concern right now,” Ezor replied smugly.

“We are,” Zethrid finished, punching her fist. A wicked grin spread across her face, mirroring the one Ezor wore. There was a brief standstill as they sized up each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Keith’s brain was moving a mile a minute, trying to formulate a plan out of this, but no matter which way he looked at it, it didn’t look good.

_This is bad,_ Keith thought. _Shiro can’t fight, Allura doesn’t have a weapon, and I’m already pushing myself._ _It’s not like we can run either, Shiro’s prosthetic is stuck to the ground and he can’t get up. Not to mention we’d be fighting in a small space._

Zethrid finally couldn’t wait any longer and charged forward with a loud battle cry. Allura and Keith lunge in different directions just as Zethrid slammed a fist into the ground. All of the sudden Ezor appeared in Keith’s path and he barely had time to react as she brought her foot up to kick him. Without thinking, Keith summoned his shield at the last second and blocked her foot, inches* from his face. He spied an unmistakable smirk on her face through the transparent shield before she was twirling away from him. Keith stole a quick glance over his shoulder and saw Allura had grown in size to match Zethrid. Keith had to silently chuckle to himself. For all the diplomacy they preached, Alteans sure knew how to fight, and Allura was no exception.

With the knowledge that Allura could handle herself, Keith turned back to face his own opponent. He summoned his bayard and it transformed into a sword.

“Oooo, a sword, so exciting,” Ezor cooed mockingly. “Good luck hitting me!” She lunged forward and Keith took a swipe at her, but she maneuvered out of the way and delivered a couple quick jabs to his side before twirling away from him. Keith growled and charged at her, slashing furiously at the general, but she easily danced around his blade, all while wearing this smug smirk on her face that reminded him of Lance. Keith shoved that thought away and thrusted his sword forward, intent on impaling her, but she dodged that as well before kicking him in his stomach, knocking him to the ground. Keith grunted and rolled over and managed to look up in time to see Ezor air borne. He quickly rolled out of the way, leaving her to strike the empty floor, and got to his feet. Keith ended up back to back with a much larger Allura, each staring down their respective adversary.

“How you holding up?” Keith asked, panting.

“Good. How ‘bout you?” Allura replied, slightly out of breath.

“Fine. But I can’t seem to land a hit.”

“We just need to keep them away from Shiro for now.”

“Don’t worry, you two are much more entertaining!” Ezor pointed out.

“It’s much more fun when they hit back,” Zethrid added.

“We need to end this quickly and find Lance,” Allura whispered over her shoulder.

Wordlessly, Zethrid and Ezor charged them at the same time. They turned to face their opponents and the battle resumed. While Allura was pretty evenly matched against Zethrid, Ezor mercilessly took advantage of Keith’s sluggish movements, landing several punches and kicks, particularly around his torso. It was frustrating to all hell to watch Ezor dance around his strikes, get in her own attacks, and then twirl away from him before he could retaliate.

Keith finally had enough and jumped away from her, carefully remaining out of reach as he paused to catch his breath. Sweat dripped down his face, plastering his hair to his head and making the black flight suit cling to him uncomfortably. He was ashamed to admit it, but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up. Between struggling the whole time since he had been captured and the number that Lance did on him, he definitely felt the exhaustion trying to set in, the same one that he kept trying to stubbornly ward off. Sooner or later he was going to run out of steam, and Keith worried it was going to be sooner than he wanted.

Break time was up as Ezor ran at him again. Keith readied his sword to intercept her, but all of the sudden she threw a couple of metal discs at him. Keith managed to register it quick enough and put up his shield at the last second to block the discs. Ezor was there before he had time to react and delivered another powerful kick right above where his belt sat. Keith tumbled to the ground with a yelp, his hands flying to the spot and eyes scrunching shut as pain bloomed across his stomach. He heard footsteps and opened his eyes to see Ezor running toward him with a sadistic grin on her face. Keith knew he should get up, knew he should run or move or _do_ something, but his aching body stayed frozen in its position.

Without warning, Shiro appeared out of nowhere, metal hand lit and glowing. He intercepted Ezor before she could get to Keith and forced her to dodge as Shiro swiped at her. Shiro then switched his approach, and before Ezor could react, he _slammed_ her into the ground, knocking her out in the process.

Zethrid paused her own fight long enough to see Ezor get knocked out, long enough for Allura to take advantage of her hesitation. Allura lunged forward with a yell and delivered a powerful blow to the general’s jaw, knocking her out as well.

_How did he get free?_ Keith wondered. He hadn’t moved from his position, too stunned to even attempt it. Now that both generals had been dealt with, he slumped down to the ground in relief. Shiro appeared over him and knelt down next to him.

“You okay?” Shiro asked.

Keith didn’t bother to hide the groan that he let out. “Yeah, but remind me to ask Coran about extra armor for our torsos later,” he replied. Now that he had stopped moving and some of the adrenaline from the battle had subsided, the pain came back full force, accompanied by the sting of his new collection of bruises. Shiro chuckled and offered a hand, to which Keith gladly accepted, and Shiro pulled him to his feet.

“How did you manage to get free?” Allura asked. She was now back to her regular size, but remained purple.

“I had Pidge hack into the system. Basically some sort of mechanism was causing a magnetic field to run through the floor and she was able to shut it down,” Shiro explained.

“Why do I have a feeling Lance set that trap too?” Keith groaned.

“But we didn’t encounter it until now. How would he have known we were going this way?” Allura pointed out.

“My helmet and bayard are probably what activated it,” Keith guessed. Allura frowned, swearing under her breath.

“We made it through this one, but we should expect more traps ahead of us. Let’s get going,” Shiro instructed.

“What about the generals?” Keith questioned.

“Lance is our first priority. Besides, they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon,” Allura answered.

“Good, let’s go find the others,” Shiro said. They nodded and left, with Allura leading the way again.

It didn’t take long to catch up with the others. Thankfully, they hadn’t run into any more traps on their way over to Hunk and Pidge. However, Hunk and Pidge managed to spring their own trap when they found Lance’s armor, but they had successfully disabled it and retrieved Lance’s armor, storing it in some sort of device they got from the Olkari that miniaturized things.

“Oh, thank god you guys are okay,” Hunk exclaimed in relief when he saw them.

“Is everyone okay?” Shiro asked.

“Other than Hunk freaking out and throwing up, we’re good,” Pidge answered.

“Has anyone seen Lance?” Hunk wondered.

“No. We ran into a couple generals on the way here, but so far we haven’t seen him,” Allura replied.

“Not to mention Lotor is also absent, along with a couple of other generals,” Shiro pointed out.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re up to something, and this whole rescue operation is just a diversion,” Keith admitted.

“Yes, but what could he possibly have to gain that’s more important than Voltron?” Allura questioned, a hand to her chin in thought.

“Worry about that later, right now our priority is Lance. We’re not leaving without him,” Shiro said.

“But that would require us to know where he is,” Pidge muttered.

“If I have to take a guess, he’s guarding the lions,” Keith announced. “It’s our way out. And I bet that’s where all the sentries have gathered.” The others looked grim as they regarded Keith’s words.

“Unfortunately, I bet you’re right,” Allura agreed.

“And we’d be walking right into another trap,” Pidge added.

Keith nodded. “With the lions and Lance himself as the bait, whether he knows it or not.”

“Well, that spares us the time trying to find him. Let’s go get him,” Shiro said. Everyone nodded before heading back to where they originally entered.

“Where did you guys park again?” Keith asked.

“In a hangar. It took a lot of convincing from Allura to get Red not to go tearing through the place,” Pidge explained. “It’s not much further though.”

When they arrived at the hangar, sure enough, there was a horde of sentries standing there waiting for them outside the doors. As soon as they spotted the paladins, they didn’t waste any time and immediately started firing on them. Hunk summoned his bayard and unleashed a stream of blasts, mowing down the first couple rows of sentries. Pidge summoned her own bayard and used her small stature to her advantage, weaving through the legs of the sentries and wrapping them up in the electrified cord of her grappling line. Shiro lit his hand and immediately dove into the fray, with Keith hot on his heels. Keith had half-expected Allura to seek shelter behind Hunk, but when Keith turned around to look, she was slicing through the sentries with one of the staffs from the gladiator robots from the training deck.

The battle was intense, the sentries outnumbering the paladins three to one. But it was the battle and the rush of adrenaline again that helped fuel Keith's movements. A shot flew by Keith, mere inches from his body, more than once. He also had a few close calls, but he was thankful when someone was there to cover his back. They fell into a rhythm relatively easy, with Shiro and Keith carving a path and Allura, Pidge, and Hunk covering them from behind.

As they were fighting, something out of the corner of Keith’s eye caught his attention. He turned to get a better look at it and was surprised to see Lance sneaking amongst the robots, eyes firmly trained on them and stalking them like a predator. When Lance realized he had been spotted, he fired off a few quick shots at Keith, forcing Keith to put up a shield to block them. Lance seized the opportunity and charged at Keith, blaster aimed. Keith used his shield to intercept Lance’s shot and block Lance’s weapon as he tried to strike Keith’s head.

“Lance, what are you doing? It’s me, remember?” Keith tried. At the sound of Lance’s name, the others’ heads whipped around and spotted them.

“Blocking your escape, that’s what. Looks like my plan worked perfectly,” Lance sneered. Keith spied Pidge running to his aid and shoved Lance off of him. Lance noticed Pidge approaching and fired off another quick round of shots. Pidge scrambled tone put her shield up to block them, but one of the shots managed to graze her left thigh, above the armor. She yelped and fell to her knees, her free hand darting to put pressure on the spot. Keith supposed the only good thing about blaster shots was that they instantly cauterized any wound.

Keith didn’t hesitate and lunged at Lance as he was taking aim on Pidge again. Lance noticed at the last second and ducked out of the way of Keith’s sword. He then turned his blaster on Keith, only getting in a couple of shots before Shiro was there and he had to move.

“Pidge, you okay?” Keith called.

“Yeah, it just burns,” Pidge grunted. She let out a hiss between her teeth when she removed her hand, quickly covering it again.

“Allura, Hunk, get rid of the rest of the sentries. Shiro and I are going to take on Lance,” Keith ordered. They nodded and turned their attention to the remaining robots. Thankfully, there weren’t very many sentries left and they’d make quick work of them. Keith turned his attention to Lance and quickly threw his sword right as Lance tried to go after Shiro. Lance caught a glimpse of him and moved out of the way, letting the sword impale the wall instead. Shiro took the opportunity and went on the offensive, only activating his prosthetic when he thought he could get Lance’s blaster.

Keith grabbed his sword and joined the fight, but he was careful not to seriously injure Lance. Evidently, Lance picked up on their hesitation and grew bolder in his attacks, armed with the knowledge that his opponents wouldn’t retaliate with the same force. Even though they were fighting two on one, Lance still gave them a run for their money, his long limbs and blaster making it hard to land a clean hit. Keith slowly started to pick up on Lance’s battle strategies and noticed he favored attacking from long range and then closing in while they were on the defensive.

_Now if I could somehow use that to my advantage,_ Keith thought to himself. He waited for the opportune moment, dodging and feinting and striking alongside Shiro. But this time Keith could feel the characteristic burn of his muscles that came from exertion, and knew he wouldn’t make it much longer. He decided to chance it as Lance lunged toward Keith, his blaster aimed and ready to fire. Lance’s eyes were ablaze with the intent to kill and a wicked grin across his face. Instead of blocking like he usually did, Keith evaded the shot at the last second and grabbed the gun. There was a brief moment as they wrestled with each other, trying to gain control over the blaster. Keith shouted and wrenched the blaster out of Lance’s hands and chucked it away from them. To his relief, he caught a glimpse of Pidge slice it in half with her bayard, rendering it inoperable.

Lance let out a furious cry and tried to wrestle Keith to the ground, but Allura kicked Lance in the side and knocked him off of Keith. Together, they went to rush Lance while he was temporarily stunned, but he whipped out a hand held blaster from seemingly nowhere. It was shaped like that of a pistol and pointed directly at them. Lance fired on them several times on them, forcing them to put up their shields and take cover.

While Lance was distracted, Hunk charged Lance, dropped his shoulder, and knocked Lance to the ground, dislodging the pistol from his grip in the process.

Hunk’s hands immediately shot to his face. “Oh my gosh! Lance! I’m so sorry!” Hunk apologized frantically. He immediately regretted attacking his friend, and Keith couldn’t blame him. Luckily Shiro seized the opportunity and grabbed Lance from behind as he was trying to get up. Shiro used his bigger size to his advantaged and somehow manhandled Lance to the ground, pinning the blue paladin’s arms behind him.

“Does anyone have anything to tie his hands? I can’t hold him for long,” Shiro asked. Where Shiro had strength, Lance had length. His long skinny limbs and tall frame gave him more wiggle room, making it difficult for Shiro to keep his hold. He kept having to constantly adjust his grip as Lance struggled beneath him. Keith could also tell Shiro was also trying not to hurt Lance too much. Even if he couldn’t remember them, he was still their friend. With one last push, Keith forced his legs to move and rushed to Shiro’s aid, grabbing Lance’s legs to help hold him down.

“No, but I could put him to sleep,” Allura suggested. She came over and knelt down in front of Lance. Lance freaked out at the sight of Allura, screaming and thrashing against them with all of his might. Shiro struggled to keep his hold on Lance, but with Keith there, it was manageable. Allura looked up at Shiro and Keith, who both nodded. Allura put her hands on Lance’s temples, increasing the volume of his scream. With a quick spark of her magic, Lance’s screams died down and he ceased struggling.

There was a brief pause as everyone held their breath to see if he was really out. Shiro adjusted his grip and moved so he could see Lance’s face. Keith tightened his own grip on Lance’s legs in case he was faking it and watched as Shiro carefully lifted one of Lance’s eyelids to check.

Shiro looked up and nodded. “He’s out cold.” Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief and Keith stood up. Shiro gathered Lance in his arms and slung the unconscious boy over his shoulder. “Alright, let’s get out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *30 yards is roughly 27 meters for my metric friends.  
> *1 inch = 2.54 cm


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, another chapter! Now that Lance is safely back at the Castle, the team can start to figure out what happened and maybe reverse whatever Lotor has done to him. 
> 
> Oh, and there's also a tiny Shrek reference if anyone can find it. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think, I'd love to hear from everyone!

It was a long flight back to the castle. Or at least it seemed long to Keith. No one had said anything, other than Hunk asking how Lance was. Shiro had said they weren’t sure and it’d have to wait until they got back to the castle, which ended any other possible questions. Since it was too dangerous to have anyone ride alone with Lance, Allura was watching over him in Black’s cargo hold.

Red was practically furious that they didn’t blow up the ship that held Keith prisoner, but all that had mattered was getting out of there as quickly as possible. They were met with a wing of fighters, but it was nothing they couldn’t handle and quickly disposed of them. Destroying the fighters made Red feel a little bit better, but she was still angry, her presence simmering in the back of Keith’s mind like an angry camp fire.

_Thanks for coming to get me Red,_ Keith thought at her, and he meant it. He received something like a huff of annoyance from the mechanical lion, but he detected the faintest hint of something like pride underneath. Keith couldn't help but chuckle at that.

Somewhere along the way, after they had been flying for a little bit, Keith found himself fighting to keep his eyelids open. After everything that had happened to him, he had been mostly running on adrenaline, but now that things had finally calmed down, exhaustion had set in. His own aching muscles and Red’s quiet nudging at the back of his mind helped power him through the drowsiness. While Keith would never admitted it, he had never been so relieved to finally set his eyes on the sparkling white Altean ship.

Keith was thankful as Red took over on autopilot as everyone piloted their lions into their respective hangars. Red swooped in and touched down smoother than Keith probably would have been able to manage, crouching down to let him out whenever he was ready. Keith knew he should get up and go check on the others, but the prospect of getting up and moving seemed like an insurmountable challenge. _Can I just sleep here?_ Keith wondered and slumped back in his chair. Red growled at him, answering his thoughts.

Keith sighed and leaned forward. “Guess not,” he chuckled. Mustering up enough willpower to move, Keith forced himself to his feet and exited the cockpit and out of Red. Once he stepped out of her, she sat up into a sitting position before her eyes went dark. Keith couldn’t help but grin at her, “Thanks again—for coming to get me.”

Rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes, Keith made his way to his room. A shower and his bed sounded heavenly at the moment, but he paused at the thought of Lance. If Lance woke up before they could…properly subdue him, it might be problematic. Keith sighed before trudging over to the infirmary.

When Keith finally arrived, the others were already there and he took in the situation. Coran, Shiro, and Allura were all huddled around a cot that contained an unconscious Lance while Pidge sat on the ground nearby, clutching her leg with a grimace while Hunk hovered over her, unsure of what to do.

As much as Keith wanted to go check on how Lance was doing, he knew he’d only be in the way. Keith remained in the doorway, unsure what to do. He supposed the correct thing to do would be to go check to see if Pidge was okay, but she looked like she was doing pretty well. Hunk seemed to be freaking out more than she was, even though he wasn’t the one with the wound. Keith sighed and decided he should at least _try_ to see if she was okay and went over.

“Hey, how’s your leg?” Keith asked. Pidge looked up at him when he spoke.

“Hm? Oh, it’s okay,” Pidge replied.

“Okay?!” Hunk echoed incredulously. “You were shot in the leg! _How_ is that okay? I _really_ think you should go in a pod.”

“It was just a graze! It burned me more than anything. I don’t need a pod,” Pidge argued, exasperated. Something told Keith they had already had this argument and he didn’t miss the way Pidge rolled her eyes.

“A burn still hurts,” Keith pointed out.

“Yes! Thank you Keith!” Hunk exclaimed.

“But it’s doing better?” Keith questioned.

“Yeah, now that I’m not putting weight on it,” Pidge said. She then looked up at Keith. “How are _you_ doing?”

Keith blinked at her, surprised and partially confused by the question. “I’m—”

“Oh my gosh! Did they do something awful to you? I don’t wanna know. They must have, if the Red Lion came after you—are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay, I—” Hunk rambled nervously.

“Hunk, calm down. I’m fine. A little worn out, but fine,” Keith interrupted.

“Actually, you know what Hunk?” Pidge began, drawing Hunk’s attention to her. “My leg _does_ hurt—a lot. But I think a pie would make it feel _a lot_ better.”

Hunk blinked at her as he slowly registered her words. “A pie? What flavor?”

“Surprise me,” Pidge said coyly.

“Okay, I’ll get right on it!” Hunk exclaimed and ran out the door.

Keith arched an eyebrow before sitting down next to Pidge. “What’s the pie for?”

“To get rid of Hunk,” Pidge said.

“Ah,” Keith muttered.

“Don’t get me wrong, Hunk is a wonderful guy, but he’s super freaked out right now and needs something to distract him.”

“Soooo…the leg is…?”

“Fine, just kinda painful. How ‘bout you?”

“I’m just…really tired.”

“Oh.” An awkward silence fell between them as they ran out of things to say. Both of their eyes unconsciously wandered over to the cot Lance was situated on. Coran was busily scanning Lance with some weird Altean devices while Shiro was helping Allura get him out of the Galran armor. In between their flurry of moving bodies, Keith spied Altean cuffs anchoring Lance’s wrists and ankles to the frame. Anger flared inside of Keith, but he supposed it was for the best. Lance would wake up believing he had been captured by enemies. The last thing they needed was him trying to escape before they figured out what Lotor had done to him. Keith also noticed that the cuffs were different from the ones they had used on Ulaz and made a mental note to ask why later.

“How bad is it?” Pidge asked suddenly, her voice quiet.

“What?” Keith said.

“How bad is it?” Pidge asked again, louder this time.

“He didn’t remember me, so interpret that how you want,” Keith answered shortly.

“But like…Does he remember anything at all? Or was everything completely wiped? Is his personality still intact? Or—”

“Pidge, I don’t know, okay?” Keith snapped, but then instantly regretted it. “Sorry, I—”

“It’s okay, we’re all worried about him,” Pidge said.

Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he spoke. “From what I have gathered, Lance thinks he’s been one of Lotor’s generals for years. He believes that _we’re_ the ones who wiped his memories and Lotor saved him from us.”

“That’s…unsettling.”

“I don’t—…I don’t suppose you have any ideas how to reverse this?” Keith wondered.

Pidge put a hand to her chin in thought. “Hm…Without knowing _how_ his memories were wiped, it’s hard to say. Although I suppose a full cranium scan wouldn’t hurt. That way we could see if any synapse clusters were firing irregularly or if any regions of his brain were altered, but that might require some form of an electroencephalogram scan or an MRI maybe. I wonder what types of neuroimaging technology Alteans have. Or maybe the Olkari might have—brain scan,” she added when she saw Keith’s bewildered expression. “I need to scan his brain to know if any engines are misfiring if that makes sense.”

“Oh…kinda?” Keith exclaimed.

“I was thinking exactly that Number Five!” Coran announced.

“Though it would have been helpful if we had a scan of his brain before it got scrambled, but we’ll have to make do without,” Pidge mused.

“As soon as we’re done Lance, we’ll take a look at your leg Pidge,” Allura said.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Pidge assured. She then lowered her voice, “I’m really worried about Lance.”

“Me too,” Keith said, staring at Lance. “Me too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't know where I'm going from here, so I don't know how long it'll take for the next part. That being said, I do have an ending in mind, it's just connecting the pieces together that's the problem. So if anyone would like to throw out ideas in the comments, I am open to suggestions!


End file.
